By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony is not happy that he sat on the bench for the entire fourth quarter. This included a chance to beat his former team.
The Thunder lost 126-125 in overtime to the Denver Nuggets. Anthony was drafted by the Nuggets in 2003.
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony takes a shot over Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (Getty Images)
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony takes a shot over Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (Getty Images)
“Yeah, of course,” Anthony Said. “Of course, I wanted to be there, but that wasn’t my decision to make, so I kind of leave that to coach on that one.”
There was an attempt to get Anthony in the game in the final stanza before overtime. He went to the scorer’s table with three minutes left in the game.
Then, Jerami Grant made a three-pointer from the corner to give the Thunder a six-point lead with 2:22 left in the contest. Anthony waved his hand, towards the court, before going back to the bench.
The game was tied with 15 seconds left, as Will Barton made a three-pointer. Following the play, Thunder head coach Billy Donovan called a timeout then drew up a final play.
At this time, Anthony was still on the bench. Russell Westbrook, the Thunder’s best player, missed a three-pointer with two seconds left, thus sending the game into overtime.
“I was sitting for the whole fourth and there was like there and some change on the clock,” Anthony said. “[Grant] hit that 3, so it was like just let him continue to go out there and just play it out and see what happens. But then we wind up going to overtime.”
Anthony did return to action in overtime. He made a three-pointer with 2:40 left in the game that put the Thunder up two points.
The Thunder have now lost three straight games, currently in sixth place in the Western Conference. He had 23 points in the game.
“It was kind of a hard thing, I wanted to put Melo back in the game, but I think that unit was playing so well at that particular time, we were on a pretty good run, we were playing good, Jerami made a 3 when I wanted to put Carmlo back in,” Donovan said. “Carmelo’s always been a team guy, I think he felt like, ‘OK, Jerami’s playing well, let him go, let him play.”